WASHINGTON, INC. – The Nation, “Where Have All the Lobbyists Gone? On paper, the influence-peddling business is drying up. But lobbying money is flooding Washington, DC like never before. What’s going on?” by Lee Fang: “In January, … for a third straight year, overall spending on lobbying decreased. Lobbyists … continue to deregister. In 2013, … registered lobbyists dipped to 12,281, the lowest number … since 2002. But … lobbying isn’t dying; instead, it’s simply going underground. … A loophole-ridden law, poor enforcement, the development of increasingly sophisticated strategies that enlist third-party validators and create faux-grassroots campaigns, along with an Obama administration executive order that gave many in the profession a disincentive to register—all of these forces have combined to produce a near-total collapse of the system that was designed to keep tabs on federal lobbying.

“While the official figure puts the annual spending on lobbying at $3.2 billion in 2013, [American University’s James] Thurber estimates that the industry brings in more than $9 billion a year. … Lee Drutman, a lobbying expert at the Sunlight Foundation, says that at least twice as much is spent on lobbying as is officially reported. Trade association documents, bankruptcy filings and reports from political consulting firms … show that many of America’s largest corporations have spent much more on lobbying than they’ve officially disclosed. In some cases, the quarterly registration system, used by the public and journalists, shows only one-tenth of the amount that firms spend to win favorable treatment by the federal government. …

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“The new captains of the influence-peddling industry lobby openly and with no interest in registration, reaping huge financial rewards. … [T]he American League of Lobbyists … changed its name in November to the Association of Government Relations Professionals. And while lobbyists must report their payments from clients, those ducking the system quietly bring in the biggest paydays.” http://goo.gl/z0X8R0

SEN. TED KENNEDY, who was born 82 years ago today, shared a birthday with David Axelrod, and they used to call each other on the day.

2016 – JONATHAN CHAIT, “The National Interest” column in Monday’s issue of New York magazine, “How the GOP sabotaged Marco Rubio: The party elders who thought they were enlisting him as the Republican savior were instead making him its martyr”: “We can now, in hindsight, identify last February as the apex of the Rubio bubble. Over the next few months, conservatives shook off Rubio’s charm offensive and whipped themselves into a familiar frenzy against his immigration-reform plan. … The cumulative humiliations have transformed the former party savior into a figure himself in need of saving. … Conservatives liked the sound of Rubio’s immigration plan, but it could not survive legislative contact with the enemy. Compromising on immigration means handing a legislative accomplishment to Obama, a taboo that dwarfs any ideological commitments.” http://goo.gl/hHqctm

A KEY LIFE LESSON FOR YOUR KIDS – Ruth “The Truth” Marcus, in Sunday’s WashPost, “What’sApp: An updated American success story”: “Both co-founders applied unsuccessfully for jobs at the company that just agreed to make them billionaires. ‘We’re part of the Facebook reject club,’ [Brian] Acton told Forbes. Even better is the venue that Acton, [Jan] Koum and venture capital investor Jim Goetz chose to sign the sales documents. They drove a few blocks from the WhatsApp headquarters to a vacant building … the former social services office where Koum once stood in line to collect food stamps.” http://goo.gl/B3f2bE

--PLAYBOOK FACTS OF LIFE: This is why we tell young people that one of the secrets of life is: “Ya never know!” When you run into disappointment, and don’t get what you think you want, you usually wind up much better off than if you’d stuck to whatever course you’d plotted.

WORTH THE CLICK (but leads with a spoiler alert): “What House of Cards gets wrong about money in politics,” by Byron Tau http://goo.gl/DZhSL7

MEMO TO MEMBERS – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor email to House Republicans, who are back home this week, “Winter 2014 Legislative Agenda – An America that Works”: “This year, we will … continue to build a policy agenda focused on bold, conservative solutions to these and other pressing problems facing working middle class families. Our efforts over the next three weeks will include: 30 Hour Work Week: Restoring Wages to Hourly Employees … Hourly employees can lose up to 25 percent of their hours/wages as a direct result of Obamacare’s 30 hour work-week provision. … [T]he House Education and Workforce Committee has been collecting and compiling stories about school districts and colleges impacted by the 30-hour rule. I encourage you to likewise collect personal stories from your district and be prepared to highlight them over the coming weeks. … Middle Class Squeeze: Reducing Home Heating Costs … Job Creation and Economic Growth … Protecting the First Amendment and Stopping Government Abuse … Obamacare … Flood Insurance.”

PULLING BACK THE CAMERA – “Budget referee CBO: Republicans’ new ally,” by Brian Faler: “Everyone loves CBO, except … when they don’t. Lawmakers hail the agency’s findings when they confirm what they already believe. And when they don’t, politicians in both parties throw up CBO’s hood and try to explain to its platoon of Ph.D.s what exactly it is they’re doing wrong. That was clear over the past couple of weeks, when CBO shot holes in two of Democrats’ biggest election-year priorities.” http://goo.gl/Qrh9EA

** A message from BP, Day 6: Who are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the misinterpretations of the Gulf Settlement Agreement? Lawyers and law firms making claims for themselves. They’ve received more in offers from the Gulf Settlement Program than restaurants, bars, hotels, or seafood processors. And the average offer made to law firms is $750,000 – more than three times the average offer made to all other businesses. Read on or visit http://bit.ly/NLep1F to find out more. **

HIRING BILL HYERS – Lynn Sweet, in Chicago Sun-Times: “Gov. Pat Quinn hired the man who managed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s come-from-behind, populist everyday people campaign to be the chief strategist of his re-election bid. … Quinn, who buys his suits at Men’s Wearhouse on State Street, told me his campaign will be steered by Bill Hyers, who won rave reviews for taking de Blasio’s longshot bid to victory in a big-city contest with intense media scrutiny — a nice practice run for Illinois.” http://goo.gl/R7BfnO

STAT DU JOUR -- L.A. Times A1, “More youths crossing border alone: Children and teens, many from Central America, are coming to south Texas in search of safety,” by Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Harlingen, Texas: “The flood of undocumented immigrants has slowed compared to five years ago — likely due to tighter border enforcement and the economic downturn in the U.S. — but in its place is a new immigration surge even more confounding: children and teenagers traveling through the rugged border lands into south Texas … Up to 120 unaccompanied youths are arriving each day, … a number that has tripled over the last five years and that by some estimates could soon reach 60,000 a year.” http://goo.gl/0S6dX6

LEAD OF THE WEEK – Maureen Dowd, “History: Get Me Rewrite! Some mistakes cannot be painted over”: “I found myself sitting on a bar stool last winter next to Robert Caro at an Irish wake in Times Square for my irreplaceable Times colleague Frank [J.!] Prial. I had an overpowering urge to grab Caro’s arm and shake him. For the love of Pete, I wanted to yelp at the 78-year-old historian who has spent 38 years chronicling Lyndon Johnson in more than 3,388 pages, was he ever going to get to Vietnam?” http://goo.gl/EfdHoU

HEADLINE DU JOUR – N.Y. Daily News sports back, on USA hockey loss: “CANUCK YOU! Dear Canada: We may have lost the semifinal, but you still have Bieber.”

SHOT – “Armchair Olympics: Bob Costas and Olympic politics,” by AP Television Writer David Bauder: “TOUGH STUFF: Bob Costas' sharp, if jarring, commentary Friday changed the narrative for those who thought NBC ignored or displayed a naive attitude about the world outside of the Olympic Village. … Costas said the Sochi Olympics had gone off better than many people feared going in, ‘all of which is truly wonderful, but should not serve to obscure a harsher or more lasting truth. This is still a government which imprisons dissidents, is hostile to gay rights, sponsors and supports a vicious regime in Syria -- and that's just a partial list.’ While the games' may burnish Putin's reputation in some eyes, ‘no amount of Olympic glory can mask these realities.’” http://goo.gl/ecmELS

CHASER – WashPost Style section lead, “Great views but not the full picture: Controversies have dogged Olympics’ host nation, but NBC’s coverage has largely pushed them to the margins,” by Paul Farhi: “Before [Costas’ comments], the most hard-nosed analysis that NBC has offered may have come the night before the Opening Ceremonies. In a conversation with Costas, New Yorker … editor David Remnick, hired as an analyst by NBC, opined that the Games represented an opportunity for Putin to ‘reassert Russia on the world’s stage. … Remember, he’s an autocrat; he’s no democrat. He has no interest in LGBT issues or human rights, all the things that are being discussed. And he doesn’t care that you care that much.’ … [T]he absence of further discussion about the anti-gay law has disappointed gay rights advocates. …

“In an interview, Remnick, the author of ‘Lenin’s Tomb,’ a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the fall of the Soviet Union, declined to assess NBC’s Olympic coverage. But he noted that American TV in general has shown waning interest in international news. ‘Whether it’s Russia or China, they need to spend more resources to tell those stories,’ he said. ‘That’s a much bigger point than whether it made it into [prime time during] the Olympics.’ When it has focused on Russia during the Games, NBC has tended to put a happy face on the host nation. The primary vehicle has been a series of ‘travelogue’ pieces highlighting regional and historical aspects of Russia, each hosted by correspondent Mary Carillo.” http://goo.gl/kntAex

--REMNICK GOT RAVES … N.Y. Times Sunday Styles, “An Editor’s Olympic Turn on TV,” by John Koblin: “Mr. Remnick said TV commentary requires a “radical concision” that he is unfamiliar with as a writer and editor” http://goo.gl/Lpafu3 ... “New Yorker's Remnick: NBC's political translator,” by AP Television Writer David Bauder: “[Remnick said in an interview:] ‘[W]hat Russia and … Putin wanted out of this was to show a developing, modern country capable of putting on as good a show as Sydney or England or the rest. Politics aside, that's another set of issues, I think they did.’” http://goo.gl/I4SYO4

AP FOR SUNDAY PAPERS – MARCH 11 SPECIAL ELECTION -- “Obamacare Stakes: Early House race tests Obamacare as election issue,” by Special Correspondent David Espo in Clearwater, Fla.: “The candidates are Alex Sink, Democrat, and David Jolly, Republican, but Obamacare is on the ballot in a big way in a competitive House race in Florida that offers a preview of the nationwide campaign for Congress this fall. … The race to serve the balance of [the late Rep. C.W. ‘Bill’] Young's term has attracted outside groups on the left and the right even though evidence is spotty at best that … special elections can predict which party will win [fall fights] … Early voting by mail points to a close race. …

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the [National] Republican Congressional Committee and Jolly have invoked Obamacare in television commercials. … In one of his … ads, Jolly says, ‘I'm fighting to repeal Obamacare right away.’ Private polling in both parties says that while the health care law is unpopular, outright repeal is trumped by a rebuttal like Sink's -- that parts must be fixed, but simply eliminating it would empower the insurance industry.” http://goo.gl/pHqxbo

THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD, per the White House: “On Saturday, the President has no public events scheduled. On Sunday, the President and the First Lady will welcome the National Governors Association to the White House for the 2014 Governors’ Dinner. The Vice President and Dr. Biden will also attend. There will be pool coverage for remarks. On Monday, the President will meet with the National Governors Association. On Tuesday, the President will hold an event on the economy at the White House. In the evening, he will attend an Organizing for Action event in Washington … On Wednesday, the President will travel to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for an event on the economy. On Thursday, the President will host an event on his ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative. On Friday, the President will attend a DNC event in Washington.”

THE VICE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD: “On Saturday, the Vice President will be in Wilmington, Delaware. There are no public events scheduled. On Sunday, the President, the Vice President, the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden will welcome the National Governors Association to the White House for the 2014 Governors’ Dinner. … On Monday, the Vice President will travel to New York City to make an appearance on the first episode of ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers.’ On Tuesday, the Vice President will make an appearance on ‘The View’ to discuss the importance of signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace before the March 31st deadline. In the evening, the Vice President and Dr. Biden will host a reception in honor of African American History Month at the Naval Observatory. … On Thursday, the Vice President will attend an event for the Democratic National Committee in Washington … On Friday, the Vice President will attend an event for the Democratic National Committee in Phoenix.”

-- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: National Security Adviser Susan Rice; roundtable with Chris Matthews, The New York Times’ Helene Cooper, PBS “Newshour” co-host Judy Woodruff and New York Times columnist David Brooks; remembering the “Miracle on Ice” with former 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team member Mark Wells’

-- ABC’s “This Week”: Roundtable with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol; “Sunday spotlight” segment with former President George W. Bush and U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Team Rubicon co-founder and CEO Jacob Wood

-- CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8:30am ET): Roundtable with The Washington Post’s David Maraniss, The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter, AP’s Julie Pace and The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin

-- SiriusXM's “Polioptics” with Josh King (SAT 8am ET, 4pm ET & midnight ET / SUN 12 pm ET & midnight ET): Nick Confessore of the New York Times and Ken Vogel of POLITICO. With guest host Jeff Smith, New School professor and former Missouri state senator. On SiriusXM's POTUS Ch. 124; also available for download on iTunes and at http://www.polioptics.com

** A message from BP: This week we’ve shared multiple examples of outrageous claims for non-existent or unrelated losses that have been approved by the Gulf Settlement Program. Perhaps most astonishing is that lawyers are themselves some of the biggest beneficiaries of the settlement’s misinterpretations.

On top of the claims that they have made for themselves, many lawyers are taking up to 25% of their clients’ awards in fees. And with nearly $5 billion awarded to claimants thus far, law firms could stand to collect more than $1 billion in additional fees.

The settlement wasn’t intended to be a huge payday for lawyers who did not suffer any spill-related losses or may have even profited from representing claimants. It was designed to help people and businesses that suffered real financial losses due to the spill. Visit theStateoftheGulf.com for more on what we’re doing to return the settlement to its original purpose and to make sure awards go to claimants who actually deserve them. **

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Interested in the long-term investment opportunities that might arise from disruption? Morgan Stanley Investment Management Disruptive Change Researcher Stan Delaney shares five emerging trends that investors should watch over the next decade. "Disruptive change is so pervasive that our team looks at all of our investments through a disruptive lens," says DeLaney "Our disruptive analysis effort is really about supporting the Growth Team's strategy of long-term investing, finding companies with a sustainable competitive advantage, and making sure that we aren't holding companies that could be left behind." These trends—spanning autonomous driving, machine learning, augmented reality and more—could have far-reaching implications for economies, industries and social behavior. Read more. ******

About The Author

Mike Allen is the chief White House correspondent for POLITICO. He comes to us from Time magazine where he was their White House correspondent. Prior to that, Allen spent six years at The Washington Post, where he covered President Bush's first term, Capitol Hill, campaign finance, and the Bush, Gore and Bradley campaigns of 2000. Before turning to national politics, he covered schools and local governments in rural counties outside Fredericksburg, Va., for The Free Lance-Star, then wrote about Doug Wilder, Oliver North, Chuck Robb and the Bobbitts for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he nurtured police sources on overnight ride-alongs through housing projects. Allen also covered Mayor Giuliani, the Connecticut statehouse and the wacky rich of Greenwich for The New York Times. Before moving to The Times, he did stints in the Richmond and Alexandria bureaus of The Washington Post. Allen grew up in Orange County, Calif., and has a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, where he majored in politics and journalism.